Eight persons were killed and 12 injured after a truck ploughed into pedestrians in Lower Manhattan in New York on Tuesday, the Mayor said, calling the attack an ‘act of terror’. The suspect has been arrested.

Based on the information authorities had at the moment, the incident was ‘a particularly cowardly act of terror aimed at innocent civilians,’ Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference, Xinhua news agency reported. The crime transpired hours before an annual Halloween parade was to take place in Lower Manhattan, which would be packed with thousands of people in costumes.

Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra who lives five blocks away from the crime scene tweeted, ‘Nyc.. As resilient as ever. My condolences to everyone affected by this tragedy.’

She further tweeted, ‘This happened 5 blocks from my home,As I drive back home from work,Dreary sirens remind me that this is the state of the world #nyc #peace ?’

Priyanka is currently filming the third season of her American television series Quantico in the West and is rarely visible in India owing to her other international projects.